Love Has No Expiry Date

When you watch a film which boasts about its writer (not the producer after Rowdy happened) being none other than ace filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali,  you expect it to be worth watching. The aptly titled film Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi directed by debutante Bela Bhansali Sehgal (SLB's sister) who's been the editor for all SLB films so far. The film stars Boman Irani in the leading role and marks the debut of choreographer turned director turned actor Farah Khan (but why?), which is again a bizarre combination of the leading pair. Although the film has enough of Unique Selling Propositions (USP) to attract the audience but what actually "Nikal Padi" with Shirin-Farhad?

Farhad Pastakia (Boman Irani) is 45 and lives a satisfied but unhappy life with his "over-loving mother and grandmother", which he writes in his matrimonial bio-data. Farhad is unmarried because of his weird job as an undergarment-salesman but he is proud of his job (it's honest, he says) and he dreams to establish his own undergarments business one day named "UNDERWORLD". His family and friends are desperate to get him married; he tries a lot but finds no decent girl (rather woman) for marriage. He meets Shirin Fugawala (Farah Khan) in his store who works at Parsi Trust and develops a liking for her. They start hanging out together and comes closer. Everything goes fine until Farhad takes Shirin to meet his mother who recognises her as the same Parsi Trust Secretary who has demolished an illegal water tank which Farhad's father had built for her (his akhri-nishani type). The story revolves around Shirin and Farhad's relationship and how they break-up, patch-up and finally convince Farhad's mother for their marriage.

This film belongs to Boman Irani all the way. Portraying the role of a Parsi bachelor, honest, sweet and emotional at heart, Irani plays his part with so much perfection that you cannot do without appreciating his acting talents. Being a Parsi himself, he knows the accent and the body language of a Parsi fellow pretty well. It's quite evident that the filmmakers haven't thought once about Shirin's role and cast Farah Khan who looks so dumb on screen (well, off screen too, TMK?) and acts poorly (sharing the screen space with extremely talented Boman Irani is no joke). Daisy Irani as Farhad's mother is impressive and acts beautifully throughout her role.

The problem lies in the writing style as the film lacks the spark which is needed for a love story (so what if it's middle-aged). A film giving a sweet and simple message that "Love has no expiry date", should have that twinkle, the cuteness quotient which explains nothing but all (maybe if they've cast an experienced actor, say Lillette Dubey, or any other except Farah Khan, it would look much much better). The story is simple and cute but the screenplay is lackluster and moves on a same pace. Music by Jeet Ganguly is easily forgettable and cinematography (Mahesh Aney) and editing (Bela Sehgal, Rajesh Pandey) gains no extra mark.

SFKTNP is a decent watch but not upto the "Bhansali" mark and could be easily avoidable if you're not a cinema buff. The only thing you remember when you come out of the theater is none other than Boman Irani and his brilliant performance throughout the film (esp. climax). He should actually think about grabbing some more lead roles as "acting also has no expiry date".